High Fever
by Xochiquetzai
Summary: MakoHaru. Makoto spreads a type of disease to Haruka that causes a fever so intense it leads to hallucinations and other unpleasant things.
1. Latent Period

I think this maybe is going to be my shortest chapter for this story, so definitely expect a bit more next time. Hope you like it!

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**High Fever**

**1. Latent Period**

Makoto reached the solid ground, the tile around the pool. He convinced himself he'd be better the next day. As soon as they all got out of the pool, he hurried to attach his fingers to the wiring of the chain-link fencing and looked at the floor. There was a slight nausea he felt, and as he stood up straight again, he told himself in silence that it was caused by how fast he had gotten out of the pool.

"Do you feel like eating ice cream?" Haruka asked him from a few meters. Even if he had the slightest urge to throw up, maybe it was related to the hotness of this particular summer. "I'm melting"

"Yes" he answered and put on a smile for Haruka, before following them.

While they read and analyzed the flavors, Makoto tried to decide which one was the least likely to get him sick. 'It's just ice cream, it can't be too bad in the summer, I'm sure' he thought to himself, and decided to go with black cherry. He was the last one to ask for ice cream and by the time it had been handed to him, the others were licking theirs staring at him.

"So where are we going now?" Nagisa asked "Your house, Haruka?"

He looked at him. "I guess so, where else can we go?"

Rei glanced at the sky "Well it's getting late, so we better go there and then we'll all go back to our own."

Makoto tried to mask the fact that he wanted to cough, but he couldn't. He coughed a few times but no one seemed concerned by it, except for Haruka, who only glanced at him afterwards but continued walking.

Being halfway done with his coffee ice cream, Haruka noticed that Makoto was very slowly eating his own. He approached him. At first Makoto tried to act as if he hadn't noticed and kept his sight at his front, but then Haruka spoke.

"Something's wrong, Makoto?" he asked, and waited for a response before realizing that they were getting closer to a bridge that went across a wide river.

Makoto was looking at him, smiled and then turned his gaze to his right. "No"

Haruka moved his ice cream from his right hand to his left one, and stopped Rei by the shoulder.

"Do we have to go through here?" he asked. Rei turned around to lift an eyebrow.

"Well if we don't, we'll have to go back and take another route which will be quite a few kilometers."

Makoto didn't want them all to walk so much unnecessarily for him.

"It's okay, Haru." Makoto touched him on the shoulder, near the neck, from behind "I walk along it, it's not a big deal."

"You know you don't have to do it. We can totally change the route." he answered.

Rei seemed confused. "Hm? What for? What's the problem?"

Ignoring him, Makoto continued the conversation with Haruka "No, I can do it, really Haru."

With his last word came another smile that convinced Haruka. He turned around again Makoto positioned himself at his right before getting a foot on the bridge.

It was at the moment of looking down when he started to be conscious of his breathing in a way that made him feel that he had to be sure to breathe constantly, as if his body wouldn't do it by itself. He touched his neck with three fingers and discovered that he was in fact very anxious, by the feel of his heartbeat. At moments Haruka glanced at him, and both Rei and Nagisa turned to look but Makoto's sight was lost on the surface of the water. It was very deep. So deep that he only saw navy, and his eyes looked along all of the river that could be seen, and he remembered that those waters would be in the ocean.

Then he saw something moving among the water and, before he could think clearly, took the right hand of Haruka with his own left one. Nagisa and Rei turned around to look forward again. In order to demonstrate a sense of security that he hoped would calm Makoto, Haruka licked his ice cream in complete silence as he stared at him.

There was no way to recognize the big grey spot inside the water. By the movements it was most probably a big fish, but Makoto still felt uncertain, in a similar way to when one is in complete darkness in their own known room seeing distinguishable things around them and, unable to remember what they were before turning off the lights, interpret them as staring faces and eyes and mouths with fangs, or bodies scattered on the floor, and one has to keep staring at them until naming them, trying to convince oneself that there's no reason for something unknown and foreign in one's own room, and that no one can be staring since one's already drawn the curtains and closed the door.

He doubted the structure of the bridge. For a moment he was sure it would fall apart eventually, soon. And not only him would die but everyone on the bridge would, whether drowning or eaten. He pulled Haruka closer to himself, and he could see Makoto was pale.

"You're having a panic attack." he whispered.

Even though he could feel sweat on his skin, Makoto was cold, and the ice cream was melting on his fingers.

They were on solid ground again, and slowly the color went back to Makoto's face. The first thing he did was licking the melting parts of his ice cream, and noticed that the three looked at him and for seconds looked at each other.

"Are you okay?" Rei asked, as Haruka had his hand on Makoto's back. His breathing was very loud.

"Yeah" he said finally, and touched Haruka's arm to indicate it was enough. "Thanks everyone, but I think I'd like to have a different route next time."


	2. Prodrome

_I'm sorry for taking sooo long to write this second chapter, and also for the fact that it's so short after all.. Anyway, thanks for the read and I hope you like it!_

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**2. Prodrome**

Waking up he couldn't breathe. His throat was dry enough to make him gasp for air. It may have been for more than a minute that Makoto heard himself make what could have been a scream if he had had a voice. His hands were attached to the wall, almost pushing it, as if he could have fell. In fact he may have thought he could fall, since he was unable to reason and thought that would be the very last of him. He was still not breathing.

At the moment of making what he by instinct thought of as a breathing motion, or what his brain recognized as such, there was something that obstructed his throat and stopped the movement. For a moment he tried to breathe through his nose, midway resorting to his mouth again. He could breathe again only after calming down.

Having gone to the kitchen for a glass of water, he thought it weird that it was so hot at six in the morning.

The arrival to the pool where they were to practice was the most tranquil part of the day.

''Have you been well?'' Nagisa was the first one to touch the subject, after a pretty boring conversation during which Makoto wanted to get home as soon as possible, but knew they were to practice.

He was unable to decide on his answer for a moment. It had took him by surprise.

''Oh... Yes.'' he said, not ready to ask for help.

Nagisa got closer and spoke softly. ''How did you feel yesterday, after you arrived home?''

''Um... I was alright. A bit dizzy.''

''Can you practice?'' Rei asked. Haruka turned to look at Makoto, who answered:

''Yeah, of course.''

Suffocating, the wind was also hot, even. He could only hope the pool's water was cool. He noticed he was sweating. He was the only one he could see with their face shiny. At first he thought he was unusually nervous, then he thought he only could feel the heat, but he came to no conclusion. No one else had ever mentioned how hot it was. Almost impossible, given that even if it was twenty five degrees, it really felt like thirty-something, maybe forty.

It wasn't until Makoto reached the pool area that someone, Haruka, noticed that he was sweating and his skin had gotten a pink tint. His body trembled but he was able to balance his feet on the wet floor, at which he stared. Already inside the pool, Haruka started talking to him.

''Are you alright?'' he asked.

Makoto answered with a barely audible 'yes'. Haruka extended his hand to help him get into the pool. Realizing that it became obvious to others how bad he felt, Makoto hoped he could practice without problems. He kneeled and took his hand, getting one leg at the time and submerging into fatigue rather than mere water. Nagisa arrived.

''You're sick?'' He asked upon diving into the pool.

''No.'' Makoto could answer.

''Alright!'' he exclaimed

''Let's start. Rei, get in!''

''Just wait a minute, this is not a good idea.''

''No, Rei. I'm fine.'' Makoto assured. Offended by his suggestion not being taken seriously, Rei didn't continue insisting. At the moment of diving, Makoto got the impression that his body was heavier than it used to be only some minutes ago, and that he somehow sunk into the pool. For a moment, he wasn't reaching what seemed like the bottom of the pool. He couldn't see the sunlight reflecting on the white foundation of the structure. He couldn't see light at all.

''Haru!'' Nagisa shouted, pointing at him. By the time he finished speaking, Haruka was pulling Makoto's body back to the surface, noticing before anything else that his friend's eyes were fully open, but he did nothing to prove his own consciousness.

Rei took his wrist before Haruka could. ''Call an ambulance, I can't tell if he's breathing''

As they had been told, Makoto wasn't fully conscious. He slept for now on the hospital bed. Trying to talk to him would be pointless. It was Rei who spoke first.

''This wasn't a panic attack.'' Rei said later ''I think he was sick and we couldn't tell.''

Hesitating on whether or not to say he had noticed, Haruka pressed his own wrist with his other hand, and through the small window of the room's door, he saw Makoto's face. He stared until he was forced to look at Nagisa since he said something.

''I'm sorry I couldn't tell. I knew there was something weird with him, though.'' Haruka merely looked at him, just for it to be known he had heard him talk.

''At least it appears to be nothing serious. The doc told me he was probably just very dehydrated and passed out from heat.'' Rei said. He looked down.

''That's pretty weird'' Nagisa said ''It's really not that hot.''

''Maybe it was that combined with... what happened yesterday.'' Haruka added. It was bizarre for him that he even felt cold, and it got cooler as time went on. He could swear he felt a slight pressure on his temples as he spoke, like the sign of an incoming headache. Also realizing he was tired, he turned to look through the door's glass again. He saw that Makoto's eyes were open, almost unnaturally, but he was certain they weren't working properly at the moment. Still, he felt as if he stared, almost as if the condition had eaten his soul but his body was the one that worked. It was a funny thought, in a way, but he didn't smile. No one smiled.


End file.
